Hockey Fans Should be Applauded for Booing U.S. Team

By Kevin Potvin - Vancouver Courier

Thanks to sleeper cells of pro-American stooges planted at leading newspapers-there to aid and abet the spread of foreign anti-Canadian propaganda-Vancouver's politically smart and globally tuned-in youth have been unjustly maligned around the world for their rare, exemplary, and timely deployment of freedom of expression.

Fans at World Junior Hockey championship games staged here offered up hearty and pointed chants to representatives of the United States here to play under the American flag. In doing so, they courageously reminded Americans that their government's global behavior (for which they are, by dint of democracy, responsible) is totally unacceptable, that their representatives are not welcome in justice-loving Canada, and that their unilateral attitude to the rest of the world on the environment, trade, the military, wealth and resources, comes at a price.

Make no mistake-that is the message diplomats will wire back to global hegemon headquarters in Washington. We have humble hockey fans to thank for saying out loud what none of our political or business leaders have the courage or the will to even whisper. When fans stood to chant "USA sucks!" I was proud to be a Vancouverite and a Canadian.

I hope the chant was loud enough to be heard in Europe, across Asia, all around Africa and South America, and in particular, in the Middle East. And I hope that whenever an American sports team, or any other official representative of that rogue and careless country, pops up in cities around the world, those on hand will pick up where we left off and double the volume of that same chant.

Our spineless political, media and business leaders won't tell Washington what it needs to hear, so it has fallen to we the people to do it in any way and at any time possible, including at hockey games. America and her people cannot be allowed to forget what they've done to the world, and nor can they be allowed forgiveness until that country stops recklessly murdering the future.

Any sane, thoughtful and observant Canadian cannot but be proud of fellow Canadians forcing America and her leaders to hear the world's condemnation. But for bravely taking on the burden, listen to what our very own so-called media "opinion makers" have called these young future leaders: "Ugly Canadians... polluting games; they... chanted mindlessly... in mob mentality... [like] Neaderthals," wrote Dan Barnes of the Edmonton Journal, under the headline "Left Coast Losers." Pete McMartin of the Vancouver Sun wrote about "hockey louts" and their "ugly trend."

Every major paper in the country published editorials of similar bent. Not one to my knowledge picked up on and reflected about what is clearly the state of mind of your average Canadian. So who do these columnists and newspapers represent?

To those who would argue that sport is no place for this kind of political expression, I would remind them that, more than economic sanctions, it was sport and cultural ostracization of South African athletes and artists that created the public pressure necessary to correct its apartheid regime. American athletes boycotted Olympic games because they were hosted in Moscow, capital of the Soviet Union, then-recent invaders (like America today) of Afghanistan.

There is a reason nations subsidize international amateur sport and ensure the national flag is on every athlete's shirt and is hoisted at every amateur event. It's called "public relations." Whenever and wherever the American flag is officially hoisted up or displayed on a shirt is a legitimate occasion to express rejection of the abhorrent policies that flag represents.

The only thing better than booing official U.S. teams is banning them from all international events.

Published on 01/11/2006